Great Giveaway

You seriously need to check out this giveaway and the "Shabby Chic" website. (there is a link to that from this giveaway page) I am in LOVE with these modest, cute dresses!

Kenadi is 4!

Sweet Kenadi is 4! It goes fast. She was excited to turn 4, and when the day came I don't think she believed she was really 4 because she didn't feel any different. She kept saying, "When I get 4 I'll be your age!" "Am I 4 now? Am I taller?" Stuff like that.

This was her first big friends party. We had it on Wednesday, and Randy was at school. We had a family party for her this morning. She loved her friend party. They all dressed up for our theme of dressing as your favorite character. Kenadi was.... Cinderella, of course. I finally finished her dress. She LOVES it, which makes me happy because I spent a lot of time on it. Well, it wasn't too hard, just dumb instructions. I also made her a "Princess Carriage" cake. She was definately in princess heaven.

Her birthday fell on Easter this year. So, we had our family party in the morning, after our Easter celebrations. Here are some pictures so you can see a bit of what we did that day.

The weather has been so nice. We've been outside every day, soaking up the sun, and mud.

Notice the pink chap-stick all around Kenadi's lips? She got some in her Easter basket and will put it on constantly for 20 minutes until I put it away. Emma does the same thing, except it goes in the hair, on cheeks, and eventually gets eaten.

The above picture and the ones to follow, are of Kenadi's party on Wednesday. I never did get a picture of all of her friends who came. I thought about it once, but was too busy to remember to do it. They were all so cute, I wish I did. We had a Cinderella, a Princess, Batman, a Wizard, a Knight, Woody, Buzz, another Princess, and I think that is it. Hopefully I didn't forget anyone. Make sure you pay attention to Kenadi's dress that I worked so hard on. I might have to post a better picture of it later.

"Duck, Duck, Goose!"

Here is the cake. Don't look too closely. It was a quick job, but I think it turned out pretty good. I think I'm going to dedicate the rest of the week to pictures of Kenadi from newborn to now. So, expect to see some more of her tomorrow!

There's a Feeling in the Air...

Do you ever have a sort of De-ja-vu (how do you spell that one?) just because of the weather being a certain way, or the smells that are in the air? I've had that feeling for a couple of days now. Usually I can pinpoint it to one memory, however, not this time.
It has been a beautiful week, with nice, warm weather (85 on Wednesday!), wind, a little humidity, and the smell of trees and flowers blooming. It reminds me of:

• The month before Randy and I got married, sitting in the car talking (yes, just talking) with the windows rolled down. Anxiously counting down the days until we were married.
• Summers in Oregon and Washington, not too hot, with some humidity. Being with family and watching Kenadi play outside at my parents house.
• Jayce Relays that I used to run when I was a little girl. I USED to be fast.
• Watering the garden and killing June bugs
• Change, Things are changing
• Feels like we have a family trip planned.
• Yurts on the beach- don't know what they are? AWESOME
• Sleeping with the windows open
• Picking strawberries. That was my first job in Oregon. I picked all day for a couple of days. I think I earned $7 a day. I was 13 or 14. By the way, those California strawberries are NOTHING compared to Oregon strawberries. They are sooooo sweet and juicy. No, I'm not partial. I'm telling the truth.
  
• Family walks. I love those. Randy and I have the best conversations on our walks.
• School's almost out. I remember feeling like this every year I was at BYU-I. I was always happy to be done with a class, but sad because friends were leaving.
• Restless
• Tornado season
• Barbecues
  

Ok, there are more, but I think you get the idea. I do love spring here in Oklahoma. It is such nice weather. Things are getting green, flowers are up.... Ahhhh

Light #2

I have been "working" on this post for days now, and for some reason can't get it done. It's not that it is a long one, or needs lots of words, it's just that I have been crazy busy, running non-stop it seems. I just had to add this picture before we get into the real reason of this post. Isn't Kenadi so cute? She took this picture, I love it. I love to see that little face. She's going to be 4 on April 4th. I can't believe that she's already almost 4! Sweet little girl. I love her.

Randy finally did light #2. It is more like the one in the pottery barn mag. I like it! This is my picture of him "posing", or more like just agreeing to stay in one spot so I could get a shot of the artist with his work. He doesn't like to be on camera for some reason.

The randomness of the lights was Randy's idea. He says that is the point. I am more of a symmetrical person and wanted things even. After looking at it for days, I think I like it this way. Thanks Handy Randy. Isn't he so talented?

Sorry Randy, I Have to Tell Them.

Ok, Randy is going to be totally embarrassed by this, but I'm going to tell you anyways. I am officially an AVON LADY! Yep. Ok, I'm a tiny embarrassed too, but I'm not going to let that stop me. I told my sister Haley, and she said, "What?! Why'd you go and do that?!" Well, I'll tell you:

1)I like Avon. I think it's a bit of a sentimental thing too. I remember looking at my mom's Avon books and dreaming. It's taken a special place in my heart since then. 2) They have some neat products, and most of it is pretty cheap. 3) I can get it and get a discount if I'm an Avon Lady

4) No pressure to sell, so that's good. I only had to pay 10$ to do it!

I actually was an Avon Lady in college for about a year. Things have changed since then. Now it's online too. SO, I just wanted to let you all know that you can go on my website and order if you want! It is: www.youravon.com/thempel If you're local, you can order by emailing me or calling me~ then you don't have to pay shipping.

Cinderella

"You're as lovely as your name, Cinderella!"

Last week we got to take the girls to see the Rogers and Hammerstien version of Cinderella that was done VERY well by a local high-school. I was so excited to take them. Kenadi is absolutely obsessed with princesses, most importantly, Cinderella. She dresses up every day in this dress that she calls her "princesses dress/wedding dress". I think it's because it is big an poofy and white, and it touches the floor. I got her a crown and dress-up shoes at the dollar store and she wears those right along with the dress. So, we were planning on going to this play all week, but then Kenadi got so sick that it became apparent that we were not going to be able to go. I was really sad. On Friday I mentioned something about how we were probably not going to go to the play, and that night Kenadi was miraculously better about an hour before the show started. So we decided to go. She was absolutely fine throughout the whole play, but then the next day she was so sick again. I knew that it was risky taking her, but we didn't sit by anyone so we couldn't pass on any bugs (we hoped). Anyways, I didn't regret it. Kenadi couldn't take her eyes away from the play the whole time. She thought that it was real, and that the girl really was Cinderella. Randy and I enjoyed the play too, but mostly we loved to watch the excitement in the girls' eyes. Here are a few pictures of the night:

Oh yea, Kenadi wore this dress to the show, and the funny thing was that all of the other girls her age were wearing princess dresses too! It was so cute! By the way, I am sewing Kenadi a REAL Cinderella dress right now. I'll post pictures of it when I'm done. It's coming along nicely!Can you tell what Emma wanted to do the whole night? Yea, she was a bit of a handful. It was a late night for them.

Food Inc.

I just watched "Food Inc." and found it very inspirational, interesting, and highly motivating. Not only that, I am disgusted with the way most of our food is grown, how our farmers are treated and "run" by big companies, and how our government isn't doing much to stop it. Do you KNOW what is in the food you eat? I suggest you watch this documentary. I just watched it on Netflix, I am sure there are other ways to get it, but this was an easy way to see it. I watched it while folding laundry-you can do that too if you have no other time to watch it. Seriously! Everyone needs to see this. If you have seen it, I want your thoughts and opinions about it.